The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-08-09
BUCHANAN'S ESCAPE.

a Strange Story Brought to Light
by the Recent Revelations of tho
President of the Late COnfederacy.
Saratoga SpecicI to Indianapolis Neus,
jefferson Davis recent reference to the
two attempts that were made to assaSsinate
him when he was the President of the
Southern Confederacy, was the subject of
interest last Sunday in group of army
veterans on the piazza of the Saratoga
Hotel. In the course of the evening state
ment was made by one of the speakers
there, which has never till now been put in
print, about plot that was once laid to
assassinate President who is supposed to
have passed through his term of Office with
out shadow of danger.
Besides the cases of Garfield and Lin
coln," he said, "there was a conspiracy
against President Lincoln'S predecessor in
the White House, James Buchanan. The plot
was Matched during President Buchanan 8
term, in the year 1858, in Kansas, where L
was then serving under the gallant Gen.
Sumner, during the border troubles. You
can hardly conceive the intensity of the
hatred for Mr.. Buchanan that was felt by
the Kansas AbolitionistS. 1t seethed and
ragged in their breasts, and seemed to be UNI
quenchable. He was held to be the author
of all the crimes charged against the border
ruffians,' and all the bloodshed that kept
the settlers of the newly opened territory
in an uproar. To hear Gen. Jim Lane,
who subsequently became Senator and
committed suicide, after he had slain his
adversary Capt. Jenkins, decaim against
Buchanan at the meetings of the armed
SquatterS was to have your passions
wrought up to madness. In such state of
things, as n matter of course, there were
desperate men who felt that if Buchanan
could be made away with, Kansas would
r..I 1. l. e 10
plot, Said was Matched in Lawrence. A
sum of money was raised to carry it out,
and muscular, hard-drinking desperate
who was concerned in it offered to become
the executioner. In the spring of 1853 this
man made q trip to Washington to see the
lay of the land, as it were, and to prepare
for putting into effect his murderous de
sign. He returned to Kansas
in less than a month and reported to
his associates in the plot that the
job would be an easy one; that Buchanan
could be reached without trouble, as he was
in the habit of lettering in the grounds about
the White House, and that he had seen in a
Washington gunsmith's an air-gun which
was Just the thing needed and that he was
sure he could make his escape after the fall
of his victim and get back to Kansas. He
there, after the execution of his design.
The plot ripened. The day for the deed
was approaching. The desperate drank
heavily as he bided his time in Lawrence.
A slight incident that came under my no
tice, and q few words that | overheard one
day. put me on the scent, and when ] com
municated them to Gen. Sumner at Fort
Riley l was put on special duty to keep a
lookout, and soon found myself employed
as barkeeper for Winchel's saloon on Main
street, then called Massachusetts, street, in
Lawrence After midnight OF one Saturday
the knot of plotters were in the rear room of
that saloon, around bottle of good rye
whisky, behind a locked door. l learned
their game, and on the following Monday
threw up my place as barkeeper. L left
| town. The facts were communicated to the
| proper quarters, and was assigned to the
! duty that was made necessary. Some time
| in April got information that the desperate
| was at Leavenworth We reached Wash
| ington almost simultaneously. From that
| time he was under my eye. Within two days
he visited the old Germans gun shop, ex
viously seen, and which he purchased
for S25. 1t was put in its case and sent to
| his quarters, which were within gunshot of
| the grounds of the White House. That
| afternoon Mr.. Buchanan was warned, and
that night the man, who / had ascertained
had been fugitive from justice, was ar
rested upon an indictment for felony he
lau TWO years DClOIC III UilC iCAo-
trict of Columbia My business was ended.
The man was speedily brought to trial on
| the old indictment, convicted and SEN
| fenced to four years in the Albany peniten-
| tiary Before he had served out his term
Mr.. Buchanan had left the White House,
| Abraham Lincoln held the fort and the
country was under the cloud of war. The
| man was a wreck when he came from the
| penitentiary. He died soon afterward."
'Why have you never told these facts be-
fore?" was asked the veteran on the piazza
of the Saratoga Hotel when he had con-
cluded his startling narration.
''For the same reason, perhaps" he re
piled, "that jefferson Davis did not tell the
Story of the attempted assassination till now,
that did not see any use of it. But have
all the facts in writing, and they will some
day be found among my papers, by which
time, it is to be hoped, one or two men, yet
prominent in Kansas politics, will have
passed from the stage"
James Buchanan, as is well known, was
very apprehensive Of danger to his life dur
ing the last years of his presidency. Had
Lincoln and Garfield been more guarded
than they were against danger, they might
both have escaped the fate that overlook
them.